(INDIANAPOLIS) – IUPUI is launching a statewide study to pinpoint how the coronavirus has spread in Indiana, and how to shape the state’s response accordingly.
18% of the tests done so far have come back positive, but most people getting tested are either
running symptoms or in high-risk locations like long-term care facilities. That could mean the infection rate is artificially high — or artificially low, because the tests miss people without symptoms.
IUPUI’s Fairbanks School of Public Health will test a random sample of 5,000 to 7,000
Hoosiers to get a sense of how many people without symptoms are going undetected. Health policy and management chairman Nir Menachemi says postcards are already in the mail to Hoosiers selected for the study, and testing will begin Saturday, with a goal of delivering preliminary results to Governor Holcomb and the Indiana State Department of Health at the end of next week.
The study will include both nasal swabs to test for patients who have the virus now, and blood sampling to look for antibodies indicating past exposure to the virus.
Menachemi says the random sample will create a better picture of how different regions, races, ages and genders have been affected. He says that information can guide decisionmaking on Indiana’s month-old stay-at-home order, which is currently set to expire next Friday.
